The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for collecting milled peat in layers from a peat field. By means of the method and apparatus the dried surface portion of a loosened peat layer can be collected.
The methods heretofore known for the collection of dried milled peat from a production field include either collecting by the suction fan principle from the surface of a field of piling up the dried peat with bevelled mechanical buffer plates or a brush device to form a window, and proceeding thereafter with various methods. Such equipment at least partially agitate the peat layer in vertical direction, the drier surface portion and the lower moister peal layer mixing with each other.
With the apparatus of the invention, collection of milled peat can be started sooner than in the prior art methods after the beginning of a dry weather period, since the apparatus collects the peat layer vertically in the succession it lays on the surface of a field. Thus, a dry layer can be recovered and a moister layer sheared off back on the surface of a field for drying. It compared with a conventional vacuum or suction collector, the power demand of the present apparatus is lower. Advantages of the invention can be said to include energy savings and the fact that annual hectare yields increase.